Girls Girls Girls is a tender tale about the awkwardness of being not quite an adult, but not quite a teenager anymore either but when you’re in that strangely liminal period of life.
★★★★✰
Girls Girls Girls, previously shown in the UK as Girl Picture, tells the story of three girls and how their lives are changed over three Fridays, starting with best friends Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) being invited to their classmates’ birthday party. At this party, Mimmi strikes up a flirtatious conversation with figure skater Emma (Linnea Leino), and Rönkkö, confused over her own lack of sexual desire, tries to find someone to hook up with.
Emma and Mimmi’s relationship, and the portrayal of this, is perhaps the film’s strongest point. We see the two quickly develop feelings for one another, with them declaring their love for one another within just a couple of weeks, and while some viewers may see this as being a bit too fast, is this, not the way it always is with teenage relationships, gay or straight or somewhere in between. As quickly as the relationship forms, some aspects begin to sour, with Mimmi struggling due to her distant relationship with her family, and Emma’s difficulties balancing having a normal teenage life and her figure skating behaviour. Emma also seems to develop a rather impulsive streak that had perhaps lay dormant until Mimmi came into her life, and she began to want something other than just figure skating.
While Emma and Mimmi are falling in love, Rönkkö is confused over her lack of sexual desire. She stumbles from one awkward hookup to the next, hoping that this time she’ll find that she actually enjoys it, which is never the case. When discussing her concerns with Mimmi, she’s met with the response that she just needs to try harder. Rönkkö’s story is perhaps one that many asexual viewers can relate to, and for those who aren’t asexual themselves then the film may offer some understanding of this. And while we see Rönkkö question her sexuality, the film offers a fresh take on the experiences of sapphic teenagers, with neither Emma or Mimmi struggling or questioning their sexuality, they know they like women, and each other, and that’s what matters — nor do they face any homophobia from other characters within the film.
Director Alli Haapasalo certainly makes use of her surroundings and sets, with gorgeous shots of Emma skating on ice, that can make the viewer feel as if they are in the stands watching her failing, or succeeding, at attempting the triple axel. Throughout the film, the characters travel to and fro between the city and its suburbs, and we see both of these through the eyes of the teenagers, with Rönkkö excited to leave the city and attend the parties in the suburbs, and Mimmi not wanting to leave the city, but being dragged along by Rönkkö.
While it makes for an interesting story, the focus on all three of the characters can cause problems in the narrative at times. With Mimmi and Emma’s stories so intertwined and focusing on their relationship, it can sometimes feel like Rönkkö’s story misses out on quite the same level of depth and care. And while we see Mimmi and Emma, and Mimmi and Rönkkö interact, for a film that focuses on all three girls there is very little interaction between Emma and Rönkkö, they attend the same school, the same parties and are clearly associated with the same people but we never see anything more than that. In a way, this creates the feeling that rather than focusing on all three, maybe Girls Girls Girls should have instead just been Girl, as it seems like rather than all three, it’s Mimmi who is ultimately the main character.
Girls Girls Girls is a beautifully told nuanced take on teenage relationships and the angst and confusion that comes with them.
The Verdict
Girls Girls Girls is a wonderful coming-of-age story, in the same vein as Ladybird and Booksmart, that looks at the many different ways a teenager can make that journey into young adulthood, and how confusion it can feel at times.
Words by Isobel Pankhurst
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